Consumers purchase products in retail stores and online over the Internet. Shopping at a retail store sometimes allows consumers the ability to use interactive displays of products or use products they are shopping for before the consumer completes a purchase. Shopping online allows consumers to interact with pictures, videos, and/or audio clips relating to the products the consumer is considering for purchase. Retail store employees often provide help in selecting what type of product a consumer is looking for or what features the product should have.
Point of sale systems allow consumers to purchase products from retail stores. Store employees sell products to consumers by ringing up a sales transaction; either after helping the consumer locate a product or after the consumer located a product on their own. Point of sale systems scan universal product codes (UPC) in order to determine the price of products and add the product and associated price to the sales transaction. After all products have been added to a transaction, the point of sale system adds sales tax for the appropriate products. Consumers pay for products and sales tax at a point of sale system using cash, checks, or credit cards.
Point of sale systems can include graphical user interfaces (GUIs). GUIs sometimes display an electronic version of a sales transaction before a receipt is printed. If there is an error in the sales transaction, the error can be corrected before a receipt is printed, reducing the amount of paper needed for each transaction. Similarly, the point of sale system groups similar items so that they appear together on the printed receipt. Some point of sale systems print receipts as each item is added to a sales transaction.
Inventory tracking systems allow retail businesses to keep track of inventory and determine when additional products need to be ordered. Some electronic inventory tracking systems communicate with point of sale systems and warehouses to keep track of the product inventory at retail stores. When stock levels of products reach or are below a predetermined level, additional stock can be requested from a warehouse. Electronic inventory tracking systems track sales and returns of products over time. Sales and returns data is analyzed to determine trends, such as sales volume during different times of the year. Inventory systems can update stock levels throughout the year in order to adjust for changes in sales volume. Sometimes employees of a retail store manually scan all products of the retail store in order to verify the actual stock levels of products and to update product stock information in the inventory tracking system.